our preaching in the congregation, we must be ready to preach from house to house. We must even not be ashamed to use a gentle violence. We must be instant in season, out of season. (2 Tim. iv. 2.) We must deal with many an unconverted man, as one half-asleep, half out of his mind, and not fully conscious of the state he is in. We must press the Gospel on his notice again and again. We must cry aloud and spare not. We must deal with him as we would with a man about to conmiit suicide. We must try to snatch him as a brand from the burning. We must say, " I cannot, — ^I will not, — I dare not let you go on ruining your own soul." The men of the world may not understand such earnest dealing. They may sneer at all zeal and fervour in religion as fanaticism. But the ''man of God," who desires to do the work of an evangelist, will heed little what the world says. He will remember the words of our parable. He will " compel men to come in."
Let us leave this parable with serious self-inquiry. It ought to speak to us in the present day. To us this invitation of the Gospel is addressed as well as to the Jews. To us the Lord is sajring constantly, " Come unto tiie supper, — Come unto me." — Have we accepted His invitation? Or are we practically saying, ''I cannot come." If we die without having come to Christ, we had better never have been bom.